Fisher’s big finish in Pac-12 final shows he’s just getting started

Impressive kick to win first individual conference title forecasts strong potential for Stanford star at regional and NCAA meets

By Romaine Soh for DyeStat 

If you asked Grant Fisher if he preferred tactical races or running at an honest pace, he would have replied with the latter.

After the Stanford sophomore won a tactical 1,500-meter race Sunday in 3 minutes, 54.67 seconds at the Pac-12 Championships at Hayward Field, Fisher now has the confidence that he can throw down in a tactical race.

“I really didn’t think I’d be able to close as well as I did (Sunday),” said Fisher, who closed the final 400 meters with a 51.81-second split.

A photo finish separated second to fourth place, with Oregon junior Blake Haney earning the silver (3:55.55) and Cal senior Thomas Joyce just a whisker behind (3:55.58). Oregon’s Sam Prakel just missed the podium by 0.21.

Fisher has demonstrated impressive range since he was a high schooler. He is the seventh U.S. high schooler to break 4 minutes in the mile and won the Foot Locker national cross country championships twice.

Once Fisher stepped up to the collegiate level, the tables were turned. He was no longer the best. He had to redshirt during indoor season because of injury, which delayed the start of his outdoor schedule.

Since embarking on his Stanford career, he has picked up three All-American honors in the 5,000 meters and cross country, but had no individual collegiate titles to his name until Sunday.

While Fisher stood on top of the podium, the four Oregon runners in the 1,500, three of who scored, totaled 16 points to contribute to the men’s 11th straight conference title. Oregon’s middle-distance squad is one of the deepest in the nation, being one of two schools to have more than one runner in the NCAA final last year.

That level of depth has helped Haney to prepare better for his race because he is surrounded by familiar faces, including teammates Prakel (fourth), Tim Gorman (sixth) and Austin Tamagno (ninth) in Sunday’s final. But none of them had the closing speed to match Fisher.

“He was strong. He picked his time to go and he was decisive. Maybe on my day, I would have covered it and won the race, but (Sunday) wasn’t my day it was Grant’s, so I’m happy for Grant and happy for my guys because we had a great race,” said Haney, who placed 11th at last year’s NCAA.

“Second’s tough because you want to win, and I was the first person not to win. It’s a bummer.”

The past weekend was loaded with conference meets all around the nation as collegians geared up for the regional qualifying meets in two weeks.

Fisher’s first conference title is a confidence booster ahead of regionals, where he aims to qualify for the June 7-10 meet at Hayward Field and take a shot at a national title.

“I think this year I can put myself in a good spot with a lap to go. I’m ready for it,” Fisher said. “I’ve never felt better. I feel so good out there, every race I run and every distance I run, it feels awesome. Everything seems like it’s firing on all cylinders right now and I’m really happy how things are going and I’m excited to roll into regionals, so it’s going to be fun.”